I Will Fail You
by Cold-Sorrow80
Summary: A revelation and rebirth. A coming and going. A change for the better, or the worse? Lyrical prompt composition. Rated M due to context.
1. Battleships

**For the record, I was writing this to the acoustic version. Helped with the mood :)**

And I don't wanna fight this war  
Bullets coming off our lips  
But we stick to our guns and we love like battleships.  
Like battleships.  
-Battleships, Daughtry-

Through the window, the wind blew. The breeze carried into the room and caused her petal hair to move slightly. In her hands was the picture they took after their very first operation. Naruto with his big grin (while glaring at Sasuke), Kakashi with his mask and his high hopes, Sasuke with his indifferent (or annoyed) glance at the camera. Then there was the girl in the center, her petal pink hair almost as vibrant as her smile.

How the years have changed. Not only the people in the photo, but the world around them. Tomorrow, they would be off to war. Not that they haven't been fighting a war for a long time. _It's different when it's a personal war_, the girl would assume. Chasing after a ghost is easy. Living through the hell day after day? That's the war.

Holding the photo, memories used to swarm the pinkette. Now, it was only a dim thing in an even dimmer future. How had they ended up like this?

Oh yeah. Sasuke ran away. Naruto left her in the dust. Then the minions of chaos decided to poke their heads out from under their rock.

And her? Here she stood, the disciple of the Godaime/Sanin; worthless and pathetic. Sure, she had the power to pack a punch, but when it came down to it all….

_I guess he was always right._

As the picture was placed back on the stand beside her bed, she turned to the bag at the base of the bed. Slowly, she packed what little she could. War meant light traveling. With what little mattered, she turned and walked out the door of her room. The picture that once held hope for her and the future, left behind to be destroyed with the world.

After all, the battle had to be fought. Sadly, it was no longer a battle of words to see a comrade return home. It was war, and she was a battleship.


	2. Dead Man

Sitting here at my graveside I've never been so alive  
You pulled the dead man out of me  
I am not what I was, I'll never be what I was  
You pulled the dead man out of me  
-Dead Man, We As Human-

It would probably be the last time he would ever be able to visit these places. Yet, ironically, it felt as if it was a home coming. He had lived far longer than he had intended, the world unknowingly not caring. He had nothing left to lose. His students were grown, one had chosen such a different path than the rest…

Gazing at the engraving that lay before him, he wondered how many more names would be added to this stone. Would it be someone he knew? Would it be one of his students, Gai's, Azuma's, or Kurenai's? He closed his eyes, trying to shove the dark feeling of despair away. No, their students would live. It would be the teachers who would be put to the test. Minus the one who was already gone, and the one who bore his child.

He knew like the others, they would gladly lay down their lives for their students, their comrades and their country. Many shinobi were not lucky enough to see their students grown. His sensei was a good example. Though he outlived two of his students, the one who remained was dead as well. He just lacked a grave.

Soon. Soon he would be reunited with all three of them. He wondered if they would scold him for being late like his students once did. He was prepared as much as he could be for the ending that waited him. Surely a second time couldn't be as horrible as the first time.

He knew better than to hold out hope he would see the end of this war. He was good, even made a name for himself. But the enemy was greater. There would be causalities like with any war. Resigning himself, he turned and began to walk away from the stone.

And yet, even though he had resigned himself to death, he never felt more alive standing next to that stone with the engraved names of his fallen comrades.

_I will see you soon. _

_Rin. Obito. Minato-sensei._


End file.
